This morning I read with interest - and amazement - the above headline.  Does our president live in the same world that I inhabit?  He’s worried about America’s increasing indebtedness and is pushing for a massive expansion of health entitlements (aka wealth redistribution programs) and the cap-and-tax global warming initiatives (aka wealth redistribution programs) and a host of other other wealth-destroying regulatory programs. Yet, he’s worried about America’s growing debt?

Our political system is only now perhaps emerging from a foolish…

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Federal spending is going up. Tax receipts are going down. 2009’s federal budget deficit is now up to $1.27 trillion as a result. That’s about triple what even big-spending George W. Bush could manage. Total federal debt now stands at over $11.66 trillion.

Many other developed countries have built debt loads twice ours and more, and without apocalyptic consequences. So it appears such enormous shortfalls do not pose an existential threat to the economy. At least, not yet. But high long-run deficits…

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The federal budget deficit has already risen by $880 billion to an unprecedented $1.3 trillion. Most of the increase is attributable to recent increases in federal spending, including Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package, which the Congressional Budget Office says will actually shrink the economy in “the long run,” and which ended welfare reform, destroyed thousands of jobs in the export sector, and substituted welfare for productive investments.

Ironically, Obama had campaigned on a promise, since broken, to make a “net spending cut” in…

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Mortgage lenders are getting even bigger taxpayer subsidies to write off mortgage loans for potentially delinquent borrowers, reports today’s Washington Examiner. “President Barack Obama last week created another subsidy for home lenders, boosting benefits to lenders under the ‘Hope for Homeowners’ program created last summer. Under the 2008 law, Washington guarantees loans if lenders gave favorable terms, including principal reduction. The amendment Obama signed last week heightens cash payments to lenders and loosens standards.”

It’s not just lenders who are getting federal…

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Welcome to Episode 30 of everyone’s favorite podcast LibertyWeek, with your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist and very special guest Jeremy Lott. We start with the end of the U.S. economy as we have known it: the $790 billion economic stimulus plan and its chilling consequences. We take note of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit’s pledge to work for $1 a year and celebrate some good news with Alabama’s plan to legalize beer with a higher alcohol content than most wines.…

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Regardless of your political party or ideological leanings, the notion of the federal government spending $2 trillion, adding to the national debt of nearly $11 trillion already, should make you stop and consider the staggering size of our national tab.

If the irony of using debt-based spending to solve a problem caused by debt-based spending has escaped you, perhaps these fun facts will put things into perspective:

If you spent $1 every second, you’d have to keep spending for 412,000 years to get…

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Over in the UK, their own financial mess is reaching genuine crisis levels. With a trillion dollar national debt, a currency crisis and their own bank bailout (the model Paulson followed) having conclusively failed, Britain is on the edge of bankruptcy:

The country stands on the precipice. We are at risk of utter humiliation, of London becoming a Reykjavik on Thames and Britain going under. Thanks to the arrogance, hubristic strutting and serial incompetence of the Government and a group of…

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Tune in to lucky episode thirteen of the best pro-freedom podcast around, CEI’s very own LibertyWeek, with your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist.

This week we cover everything from the Twitter revolution and falling oil prices to Sen. Ted Stevens’ corruption trial and Iain Murray’s Fannie-fueled cyber-fight with Matt Yglesias. Also listen for new audio effects created by LibertyWeek Technical Producer Ryan Young.

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